T-I-J
by luckbringer
Summary: T-I-J: Temporal and Intergalactic Jumping. Also known as "space tag". And Theta's the one they're chasing! Now it's up to the Doctor and Clara to catch the little griffin before he makes a mess of the universe and the Doctor's time line, without causing a paradox in the process. Featuring cameos of all the Doctor's forms and some of his companions. (Sequel to "Beasts of the Past")
1. The Game Begins

**No one really expressed interest in me continuing this particular "series", but oh well, watch me continue it anyway! Fact is, I like Doctor Who, and I _really_ like griffins, so yeah, I'm gonna make what I wanna happen, happen. Huzzah! Future chapters will be different "adventures" Theta goes on, with the Doctor and Clara trailing behind in a crazy game of tag. Yes, there will be cameos! These are all sequels to "Beasts of the Past", which you should read so you know why there's a random griffin named Theta hanging around in the TARDIS. Enjoy!

Image credit goes to "shadowwolf-art" of Deviant Art.**

Clara was finally enjoying a moment of peace, quiet, and farfalle with chicken and pesto sauce when the Doctor stormed into the TARDIS kitchen.

"Right! That's it! I've had it!" Theta appeared behind him in a flurry of feathers, his wings nearly knocking the Doctor over as the Time Lord collapsed into an open chair at the dining table.

Clara bit back a groan and abandoned her fork and her meal. Honestly! It'd been little over a week and these two intergalactic _boys _had done nothing but fight. They were lucky the peace-keeping, babysitter Clara was there, or else the TARDIS would be a war zone. "What now, Doctor?"

"It's this…thing!" Theta sat itself down on the opposite side of the table and reared his neck back, affronted. The Doctor only glared at him. "Yes, this _creature_! All it seems to know how to do is make my life more difficult than it already is! Honestly, Clara, the decency of these…_pests _is atrocious…"

Unbeknownst to the Doctor, Theta was mimicking the Doctor's monologue in the background with waving claws and animalistic grumbling.

Clara raised an eyebrow. "And you don't think that you're overreacting in any way?"

"Clara, he was chewing the fluid link! If he bit through that we would be swimming in liquid mercury right now, which, need I remind you, is toxic when it vaporizes." He raised his prominent eyebrows towards the golden creature. "Or it could have exploded! Didn't think of that, did you? Useless lump of nothing, you are."

She glanced towards the griffin when Theta growled something Clara couldn't understand. But its venomous meaning was clear.

Apparently, the Doctor got that sense, too. "Well, excuse me," he snapped at the star griffin. "If I didn't know better I'd say I was being told off by a rat with pigeon feathers!"

"You can understand him?" Clara quickly asked. Rule number one of babysitting: distract the troublesome child with something else. The quicker the better, especially when one of the aggressors happened to be an irritated eagle-lion hybrid from outer space.

The Doctor leaned back in his chair once more and crossed his arms. "Course I can understand him," he answered. "I can speak all languages. Horse, baby, you name it."

"Baby? Why—never mind." She blinked and shook her head. "But why won't the TARDIS translate it for me?"

The Time Lord didn't even look at her, his attention completely riveted on Theta. "Too complex, too animal, too advanced and alien. Too much for your brain to handle. Take your pick. Or in this case, maybe it's too simple." He leaned forward again as he addressed the griffin head on. "You'd get more intelligent conversation out of a newborn adipose."

Theta snarled and reared up, hissing and snapping his wings and tail in anger.

"You wanna say that again, fleabag? I'll kick you into the nearest black hole, and even that'll be too good for ya!"

"Doctor, no. Back off," Clara seethed. Perhaps it wasn't healthy for her to continue to put herself in between the two rivals, but she couldn't very well let them have the run of the TARDIS. She was on this ship, too, and Clara's patience was wearing thin.

The Doctor half turned towards her, making Clara feel hopeful that maybe they could sort this out peaceably. "But he—oh, and I found your precious crown, you golden twat!"

Clara groaned inwardly. One step forward, two steps back.

"You stash your treasures in my stabilizers again and it won't be just molten gold I'll be cleaning up off the grating."

Theta's wings suddenly drooped, and Clara knew that the "King of Rude" had gone too far. "Doctor, you don't mean that!"

He sniffed indignantly. "I do if he's gonna be a prat about it."

This time Theta's beak curved into a snarl, and he crouched down into a defensive position. One more jab like that and there'd be blood.

Thinking quickly, Clara thrust her hand into her pants pocket, which already had the solution to occasions such as these. "Here boy, gold!" She called, and threw a handful of golden coins across the kitchen tiles. Theta brightened considerably and chased after the scattered treasure, briefly forgetting his irritation towards the Doctor.

Clara turned towards the Time Lord in question, her arms already crossed. "Doctor…"

"But he's to blame for us landing on Horacho in the wrong season, not me!" The Doctor protested. "He'd found a pocket watch from one of my previous regenerations and had stuffed it into the comparator. We're lucky the TARDIS didn't end up in the middle of a supernova."

She opened her mouth to retort, but then her brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait, what?" Clara glared at him. "You told me you did that on purpose!"

The Doctor bit his tongue, regretting this particular change in topic. "Would it had been so terrible if I had meant to do that?"

"Doctor, we got there during mating season. Mating season, Doctor! With those bug creatures fawning over me or something!"

"It would have been a good biology lesson if we'd stayed longer." A silly grin appeared on his face, and Clara insistently knew what was coming. "Did you know that—"

"No, I didn't, how fascinating, now shut it!" Clara snapped, cutting off his rambling before he could distract her further. Theta was back at the foot of the table, the coins in a neat pile at his feet and his eyes watching them bicker with interest. Clara glanced at the griffin before turning back to the Time Lord. "Back to your console room, now. Finish tinkering, do whatever you need to do, just go cool off."

The Doctor was speechless. "But—"

"Now!" He stared at her in amazement, and then picked himself up and stomped out into the TARDIS corridor, grumbling about "demanding companions". Clara rolled her eyes. For a two thousand year old Time Lord he really was the picture of a pouting toddler. She looked back down at the griffin at her feet. "Sorry, Theta. That wasn't very nice of him, now was it? I know he doesn't really mean it, though."

Theta grumbled and nuzzled his beak into the floor. The coins scattered at his feet, but he didn't seem to care.

Clara frowned, taking note of the way he clenched his muscles. "What's wrong, boy? Something you ate?"

The griffin shook his head, and he growled louder and thrashed his tail.

"You getting restless?" Theta flapped his wings, which wasn't exactly a no. Clara bit her lip. "The Doctor said this would happen, being a wild creature in an enclosed space and all. But we've played in the TARDIS rooms, right? And the Doctor, too, when he isn't busy doing something else. You have your run of the ship. And we go on adventures every day."

Whatever was wrong with Theta, Clara just couldn't understand it. The griffin jumped into the air and flew around the kitchen in agitated leaps, half screaming the entire time. Clara tried to put her hand out to him, but Theta just snapped his beak at her and flew deeper into the TARDIS.

"Theta!" Clara called. She stood in the middle of the corridor, but there was no sign or sound from the griffin. "Stupid bird," she muttered, and ran to the console room.

"Doctor!" Clara shouted, bursting into the octagonal room. She found him leaning against the railing, fiddling with something in his hands. "Doctor, it's Theta!"

The Doctor's bushy eyebrows furrowed, but he kept his focus on his new project. "Hm? What about me?" When he was met with silence, he glanced up, his mouth forming a comical "oh". "Oh, that Theta. Well—"

Clara opened her mouth to continue, but once again the Doctor's words made her pause. "Wait. Your name is Theta?"

"No, of course it's not my name! Why would you think that?" He shoved the device into his coat pocket. "Much too simple. Common, really."

Well, this was new. The Doctor never talked to her about his past. Sometimes Clara got the impression he never talked about his past lives and tragedies because he had forgotten parts of it. A part of her felt guilty, but Theta could wait a little longer. Clara fully intended to make use of this opportunity to learn more about the elusive Doctor. She walked down the stairs to stand next to him and asked, "Then why—"

He waved his hand through the air, like the answer was of little consequence. "It's my second name. You know, the kind of name they use to shorten the original name."

"Like a nickname?"

"Yes, that!" Suddenly a change came over the Doctor's face, and Clara knew question time was over. "Anyway, what's wrong with Theta, the griffin one?"

She shook her head "I was talking to him, and then he just started bouncing off the walls."

The Doctor gave her a disparaging look. "Oh no. Clara, how much horse meat did you give him?"

"No, I didn't give him any! He is literally jumping off the walls."

At that moment Theta burst into the console room, his wings whipping up tiny whirlwinds in his wake.

"See?" Clara said. At the sound of her voice the griffin screeched and dove onto one of the bookcases lining the walls. Feathers and bits of paper flew as Theta began to rip apart each book.

"No, no, no!" The Doctor shouted, stomping closer to where Theta sat. "Don't do that! You infernal pest, what's gotten into you?"

The griffin glared at him and screeched again. This time his call sounded different, more in urgency than anger.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "What? Theta, you little—" He muttered something that sounded like nonsense to Clara's ears, but she didn't doubt it was some alien curse. She saw him glance at her. "Why now? Can't we do this when Clara's sleeping or something?"

"Doctor, what's going on?" Clara asked warily. Theta ignored her and was nodding eagerly.

"The rat wants to play a game." The Doctor breathed steadily through his mouth in a heavy sigh. Suddenly a grin spread over his face, and he faced Clara and clapped his hands together. "So, let's play!"

Theta screeched in triumph and abandoned the bookshelf, flapping to his usual spot at the base of the central column. Clara groaned and put a hand to her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "Doctor, would you please tell me what is going on?"

"Temporal and intergalactic jumping. T-I-J," the Doctor proclaimed, his feet already carrying him around the console in the dance of a TARDIS pilot. He glanced up at her confused expression. "Humans know it best as 'tag'."

Clara raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" She glanced at the griffin, who was dancing over the TARDIS controls and crowing triumphantly. "Theta got this worked up over a child's game?"

"A child's game? How dare you?" The Doctor looked down his nose at her as if she were a child herself. "T-I-J is a very complicated sport that spans across space and time! When my people were still around it even became trans-dimensional. Every species that's capable of traveling through time and space plays it, Time Lords and _gryphes de stellis_ included."

Space tag. Of course, she should have guessed. "So how's it played?"

He shrugged and turned back to the TARDIS controls. "Much like the Earth version, except across a much wider area. Time Lord teenagers usually stole their parents' TARDIS and challenged their friends. Star griffins used gravity fields, asteroid belts, and far-reaching comets." The Doctor looked up at Theta, who watched him with eager eyes. "Theta's probably feeling homesick. We've played it occasionally, while you're asleep, but it's always been in short hops. Nothing too drastic." Clara heard the Doctor's thoughtful pause. "I don't think that's going to be the case this time."

Theta screeched in affirmation. Quick as anything, the griffin flapped his wings and half flew, half climbed to the top of the time rotor. As soon as he touched the ceiling, Theta vanished in a flash of gold.

Clara's eyes widened. "Where'd he go?"

"Where I figured he would." The Doctor turned back to her, his hand poised on a large handle. "Theta's in the TARDIS. Or, more specifically, the part of Her that's connected to the time vortex. When I pull this lever, he could go anywhere, and the TARDIS is programmed to follow him. It's our job to 'tag' Theta before he can slip back into the time stream." He gave her a level stare. "Do you hear me, Clara? _Anywhere_, and any-when. We could be heading into a war zone, or a planet unsafe for humans. We could accidently end up in a fixed point in time, or come across a past version of me, or you. But between you and me, hopping through my time line would be the easiest route for our young friend to take. All he has to do is go where the TARDIS records say She's gone before." He paused, as if for dramatic effect. Clara could have sworn she heard a triumphant screech come from somewhere above them. "This could get very dangerous."

"Then why did you let Theta have the run of the time vortex?" Clara asked quickly. "What if he makes the universe implode?"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. We'll be fine!" She wasn't convinced, and the Doctor's face gave a little. "Okay, so, maybe we could cause a paradox or two. Just…stay close! Don't wander off!"

Clara rolled her eyes and nodded, but she couldn't help feeling a sense of apprehension. They were about to seriously submit their control of the TARDIS to a space griffin, all for a game of space-and-time tag.

Maybe the Doctor's whole "mad man in a box" thing got progressively worse with age.

The Doctor shot her another maniacal grin, and pulled the lever.

**Quick thanks to Doctor Who: The Official Miscellany by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright for its TARDIS components chart.**


	2. Barcelona

**The inspiration for this chapter came from the movie, "Lilo and Stitch", and its song, "He Mele No Lilo" by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu. Feel free to listen to it while you read. Oh, and I surprised even myself with the amount of Doctor, Clara, and Theta introspection in this chapter, so there's that. Enjoy!**

Several moments of thrashing later, the TARDIS landed on Theta's first location. Clara glanced at the door from her position at the railing. "So where are we, then? End of the universe?"

"Nope. Just Barcelona."

Clara turned back to the Doctor, who was watching the TARDIS monitor intensely. Naturally, he looked completely at ease, his tense eyebrows daring the universe to try and faze him. Not fair, not fair at all. She raised her own eyebrow in response. "Seriously? Theta came to Earth?"

This time she caught the Doctor's mouth twitching slightly. "Not quite." He nodded towards the doors. "See for yourself."

She bit her lip, but strode over to the doors and threw them open without hesitation.

Outside, Clara gasped, barely hearing the Doctor close the doors behind them. They were in the middle of a patch of palm trees, steps away from a beach that sparkled in the sun. There couldn't be a single uncomfortable pebble in such sand. Tourists off all species dotted the surf, though it was clear many of them were humanoid in appearance. But what really caught the eye was the sea: a beautiful blue expanse of water that stretched past the horizon. Huge waves crashed into the shore regularly, providing the surfers with the perfect surfing conditions.

"Barcelona," the Doctor said. His voice sounded rough and harsh, but also uncommonly quiet, like he had just stepped onto sacred ground. "The planet Barcelona, not the city. Once the earth burns up, humans want a place to relax. And where better than a provincial paradise? If there was a record for how quickly a planet could be colonized, the humans beat it."

"Oh my god, it's beautiful here!" Clara shouted, ecstatic they didn't end up in a black hole but feeling very out of place in her black jacket, white top, black leggings, and combat boots. She glanced up and smiled. Yep, there wasn't even a cloud in the sky. "Hot but with a cooling breeze, sunny beaches, tourists on the sand, and…" A creature who looked human except for the large, drooping ears passed by them with a dog on a leash. "And nose-less dogs! Doctor, why haven't we been here before?"

The Doctor was silent so long Clara had to turn to make sure he was still there. He was staring at the beach with longing in his eyes, similar to a boy gazing at an amusement park he couldn't go to, but much deeper. It was unbearably sad, and more wistful than any look Clara had ever seen. But then the Doctor realized his companion was staring at him, and he schooled his features once more. "It's…boring." He finally said. The cheerful mask was back in place. "Yes, that's it. Quite dull. Nothing to see here, unless you want to be lazy."

Clara was still staring at him, so the Doctor diverted her attention by pointing at a point above the water. "There's our little friend, right there."

She refused to drop the topic indefinitely, but she consented to following his finger with her eyes for the moment. There, riding above the crest of a wave on golden wings, was Theta. His feathers caught the sunlight like a mirror, and as soon as the wave hit the surface of the water he flapped higher and through the spray unharmed. Clara could imagine him screeching in delight even from this distance. "No wonder he came here first," she mused out loud. "He just wanted to play in the ocean."

"I'm not saving him if he drowns."

Clara rolled her eyes. "You probably don't have to. He's not quite a 'rat with pigeon wings', you know." Though she could only see him out of the corner of her right eye, she'd bet money that grunt meant the Doctor had just rolled his eyes.

"He's having so much fun…" she whispered. If the Doctor had heard her, he didn't show it.

She sighed and smiled, nostalgia tugging at her imagination. How long's it been since she'd been as carefree as Theta? There must have had some period of time in her childhood when there wasn't school to stress over, boys to entice, parents to please, and a world that expected her to be extraordinary and live an ordinary life day after day at the same time. Clara knew she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss those moments every now and then. But she had acquired responsibilities, and now…Clara didn't think she'd be able to go back to those times. Despite the loss of her youth, her innocence, and (most recently) her sense of constant safety, she wouldn't trade her life for anything. It was worth it. Right?

As all of her mistakes in life flashed across her eyes, Clara had to admit to herself that maybe a second chance wouldn't hurt.

She lightly shook her head to rid herself of her bleak musings and looked to at the Doctor. This was a good a time to ask him as any. "Doctor, what are you thinking?"

He turned towards her and frowned. "I'm sorry?"

"What. Are. You. Thinking?" There was no way he was sneaking out of an explanation this time. "When you stepped out of the TARDIS you were looking at this place like…I don't know, like it was a gravestone of a long-dead lover or something."

"That's rather specific," the Doctor answered, but his tone was blunt and clipped. In his eyes Clara could see that this was a topic he did not want to talk about.

Not that she'd ever headed his subtle warnings before. "Doctor, I'm just trying to understand. What's so special about this place?"

He glanced at his feet for a moment, before looking at the trees, the sand, the ocean…anything but her. "There's nothing special about it."

"You've never been here?"

"No."

"You know a lot about it."

Though he was staring at a rock a few paces away from them, Clara could see the Doctor rolling his eyes. "I know a lot about a lot of things. Just because you haven't been somewhere doesn't mean you can't know about it. That's what books are for."

Clara crossed her arms and blew out a puff of air. In the corner of her eye she could make out the glint of Theta's wings as the griffin danced along the tops of double and triple waves. Why must a two thousand year old Time Lord be so difficult? "But that look, on your face," she began. "What was it for? Or who?"

The Doctor flinched slightly, and it dawned on her. Who. Not what, but _who_. Clara nibbled at her lower lip and uncrossed her arms, now uncertain whether it was wise to push him any further. But…she had to know.

"Doctor," Clara asked. "Who was it?"

He closed his eyes and looked out to sea. A slight wind picked up then, and its surprisingly chilling feel to it made the Doctor look like the wind-swept sailor he was: old and wise, but troubled and deprived of his home. "It was a she," he finally muttered.

Oh. Clara nodded and clasped her hands in front of her. She'd never suspected the Doctor of having a lover, or any variation thereof. His current regeneration was too old, and his younger, too childlike. But she'd seen the rest of the Doctor's forms during her telepathic conversation with the female griffin leader. He'd been young and good-looking a time or two, and there was the fact that almost every one of his companions had been young, beautiful, and female. One of those women must have caught his eye, but which one?

Their faces came to her mind's eye, and Clara reasoned with herself that she didn't really want to know. It wasn't her business, she didn't want to risk getting jealous of the Doctor's feelings for someone else (even different a different kind of feeling) being greater than what he felt for her…the list went on and on.

She finally turned back to the beach, where she saw Theta dodging surfers as he flew through the next wave. "Is this the part where you tell me we have to find some way to tag him?" She asked, deciding to step back to safer conversation ground.

He was silent for a moment longer. Then the Doctor turned back towards her, the wry grin back in its usual position, and answered, "Not necessarily. Let him have his fun for once. Besides, by the time we make it out there, Theta will have long disappeared back into the time vortex."

The Doctor giving up? Clara didn't think she'd live to see the day. She could have sworn she saw something flicker behind his eyes, and Clara wondered if the Doctor was thinking of "her", and if that was affecting his words. But she popped that thought bubble before it could develop into more prying questions. _Play it safe, Clara_, she told herself.

"Really?" Clara asked. "I'd figured he'd have to touch the TARDIS or something for it to work."

"Not anymore. Once the initial contact has been established, Theta can feel the pull of the time vortex at all times, so long as he stays within the range of the TARDIS. He can slip away whenever he wants."

"And in order for us to win, we have to catch Theta. Without letting him see or sense us in any way."

"Yes." The Doctor swallowed quickly. "Or Theta gives up. Or the TARDIS separates Her connection with him. Or the universe implodes. Whichever comes first."

"Great," Clara mumbled. This day just got better and better. She frowned and glanced towards the Doctor again. "Can Time Lords do that?"

The gray-haired Time Lord took a moment to think, but then quickly shook his head. "No. 'M afraid that ability belongs to _gryphes de stelli _alone."

"Why's that?" When the Doctor gave her a questioning glance, she sighed and elaborated. "How's it done?"

He shrugged. "Oh, some complicated process that works in tandem with the mind, body, and a creature's time sense. Which is a very large sense in a Time Lord, not so for a human. Probably passed down through generations of star griffins, since the end of time—"

"You don't know, do you?" Clara blurted out.

The Doctor glared at a nearby palm tree, miffed to be interrupted. "Shut up."

They stayed like that for a while, palm trees and shade forming an imaginary bubble between them and the Barcelonan beach. "How long should we stay here?" She asked.

"Until Theta decides to leave." He grinned. "Seems a shame to disturb him while he's having fun."

Clara could only agree, and they sat back on their heels to watch Theta in companionable silence as the griffin danced above the sea.

* * *

Theta _was_ having fun. With a flap of his wings he was cresting ocean waves mere inches above the water. The sun and the wind combined to create the perfect tropical temperature, and every view of the sea and the beach was more breathtaking than the last. He quickly found out that the sun's heat was great enough that it dried his wings relatively quickly, and he saw this as the perfect opportunity to fly through the water's foamy spray without worrying about his wings getting soaked.

The wave underneath him crashed harder than normal and created a slight updraft in the wind, and Theta rode it with a screech of glee. How could the rest of his species not know this place existed? All it needed was a never-ending supply of horse meat and it'd be paradise.

Theta opened his mouth to see what he could scent from the ocean breeze, but then he scrunched up his face and spat out the offending substance in disgust. Instead of a breeze, water had blown into his mouth instead. Not that this was any kind of water he'd want to drink. Salt! Who was the rat-brained fool to blame for creating an ocean with undrinkable water? Some paradise indeed!

The sound of laughter came from nearby, and Theta turned his head towards the source, fully prepared to screech at the creature in irritation. But it wasn't a mean spirited creature after all. Just behind him was that human, the one with blond fur on his head, red cloth on his legs, and flesh so sun-touched it was almost bronze. One benefit of a society well into the space age: the natives were never surprised to see unfamiliar species crawling, walking, or flying on their planet. This human was a surfer, and he'd treated Theta as his best friend ever since he'd first seen the griffin dance above the waves.

Now Theta croaked amiably, and banked sharply to the left so he could fly back to the human.

The man smiled and waved, calling out, "Hey, little buddy! How's the waves?"

Theta landed on the front tip of the surfer's board and twitched his ear. Normally, he would have bit anyone who commented on his size, but this man seemed to call everyone that. Maybe it was a human-surfer thing. The griffin couldn't talk back to the human, but he managed to get his point across with cheerful squawks and a couple flaps of his wings.

"Now that sounds like a good time," the human said, grinning. He pointed to a large swell coming in to shore. "Big one coming! You up for a race?"

The griffin looked at where he was pointing, and chortled. He was always up for a little competition.

With a screech, Theta jumped off the board and headed for where he knew the swell would rise up and become a proper wave. He could hear the man behind him, his arms working hard to catch up to the flying griffin.

And then the wave appeared in front of him as suddenly as a thunderclap, and Theta flew in without hesitating. From its outside appearance, the wave appeared quite large, but on the inside it was a quick tunnel ride to freedom. Flights like these were especially dangerous for him, since the water next to him was moving with such power it could sweep him up in its wake in seconds. Theta silently thanked his father, who'd insisted on training the young griffin to fly through jungles, caves, and storms without crashing. He could remember practicing for days, weeks, even months, and having nothing to show for most practice runs except for large bruises, multiple cuts, and deeply rooted shame.

Theta emerged from the tunnel of water and flapped quickly to dry his wings, which had been doused in condensation. He could hear the human cheering and congratulating him from afar, but Theta couldn't share the man's enthusiasm. He'd gone pretty long without thinking about his childhood, or any other part of his past life. "Before the Asteroid Transporter" he called it. He'd loved his parents, but has soon as they'd died it became clear that no one was willing to stand up for the runt of the flock. While others his age became fine, strapping young griffins, with wingspans they compared daily, Theta stayed the size of an overgrown kit. Of course, he was the first to admit that he hadn't acted very mature around that time anyway, but the end result was the same: no one was willing to deal with him.

He'd heard tales of griffins who'd become outcasts one way or another, and what happened to them in the end. Theta remembered the day he stared at an Asteroid Transporter, one of the many such capsules saved since the Age of Gallifrey, and made his choice. It was a lifetime of adventure, or nothing.

As the surfer with golden fur paddled back out to sea to catch another wave, Theta found himself hovering in the air uncertainly. He'd jumped into that capsule without thinking twice, assuming that anywhere was better than New Gallifrey and his disapproving flock. But it was lonely in space…to this day he had no way of knowing how long he'd spent in that transporter. Days? Months? Years? He'd lost track.

And then he'd crashed into a planet (he still didn't know the name of it) and boom, adventure! A Time Lord, even, a native from Gallifrey! Theta had never considered the possibility that there could be survivors of the Time War his father told him about, but here a survivor was, living and breathing. Sure, Theta might have been a little enthusiastic upon greeting the Time Lord. But it _was_ pretty exciting!

But when he cut the wires in that ship, something he did instinctively, his mind went blank. Once the Time Lord and the human had left, Theta explored the ship's console and realized that he didn't have a clue as to what to do. The ship, which Theta discovered was telepathic, had informed him that She could repair the damage to the Herself immediately, but She was willing to give him one trip. But where to go? He didn't know any other planet besides New Gallifrey.

In the end, that's where Theta programmed the ship to go.

The flock hadn't cared that he'd left! Some had even screamed at him, telling him that he should have stayed gone. How dare they! Why, if he wasn't so small…Theta shook at the memory even now. Thank goodness for the griffin leaders, who'd been open-minded to give the Time Lord and the human a chance.

And then, the Time Lord had returned the favor for him.

Theta glanced up and, with his keen eyes, picked out the Time Lord, the human, and the bigger-on-the-inside ship in the center of a cluster of palm trees. They'd followed him alright, but were making no move to rush him. _How thoughtful_, Theta mused.

As he stared at the blue box, the griffin felt a sharp tug in his mind, like something was pulling at him from the inside. Theta recognized it, because he'd felt it before; the traveling ship had filled him with it ever since he'd touched the ceiling of the machine. In the back of his mind, something supplied him with its name: the time vortex.

_Time to go_, he thought. The griffin grinned and poked his tongue out at the duo. _Catch me if you can!_

And Theta closed his eyes, called upon the unseen rope dangling from the time vortex, and pulled. He was gone in the blink of an eye.


	3. First Encounter

**Ooh, where could Theta be now? I own nothing Doctor-Who-ish, classic Who or otherwise.**

As soon as Theta vanished into thin air (or, in this case, the Time Vortex), the Doctor sighed heavily and slid back into the TARDIS, his coat twirling behind him. Clara didn't try to hide her disappointment. The one time they land on a planet that was actually safe, not to mention a futuristic beach resort, and he wouldn't even consider staying for a day!

With a last glance at paradise, she followed the Doctor and shut the door behind her.

"Where to next?" Clara asked. Naturally, the Doctor was fiddling with the controls and didn't acknowledge her. She approached the console and continued talking anyway. "Theta could be anywhere. But if he's thinking of sticking with the paradises, I'd think he'd head for the planet of horses."

Now he looked at her, eyebrows drawing together as he stared at her across the console. "A planet of horses? There's no such thing."

Despite the joke being her own, Clara was slightly crestfallen at the thought that there was no such thing as a planet covered in rolling plains and thundering hooves. "Really? No horse planets?"

"No horse planets," the Doctor replied. Then he shrugged. "Well, technically there's Gasomyer III, which has flying horses. But they also have claws. And beaks." He frowned. "You know, I don't think they were actually horses."

Clara laughed and leaned against the railing, glad the old Time Lord still had a sense of humor.

But after a few minutes of silence and nothing more from the Doctor except for a few mumbled curses, she thought the answer to her first question was long overdue. "Doctor?"

He glanced up, startled, before relaxing at seeing who it was. Clara was surprised, but then she glared at him. "Did you forget I was here?"

"Uh, no, not at all," the Doctor muttered. His hands were back to their flying dance again. "Of course I knew you were here, of course I did. Believe me, Clara, with your breathing I'd know you were here in the vacuum of space.

_He just insulted me!_ Clara thought. _Again!_ Could he seriously go through a day without insulting somebody? Honestly, with his rudeness, it was a wonder his previous companions didn't trade him in for a different pilot.

She opened her mouth to tell him off, but the Doctor quickly shushed her with a raised hand. "Shh, shh, shut up."

Oh, he did not just tell her to shut up. Once again Clara opened her mouth, undeterred, when the TARDIS chose that moment to blink all of her lights on and off, over and over again. It was like a slow-moving strobe light show.

"Doctor…" She asked the half-darkness.

"Not now," he growled back. The Doctor swiveled the monitor towards him. "Come on, old girl, what's wrong? Eh?" His right hand came up and stroked the side of the monitor. "Let us land. Come on, let us through, we need to catch the rat."

"It's Theta," Clara said.

"Right, him."

She rolled her eyes. "Doctor? Please, tell me what's going on."

The Doctor turned towards her, his arm against the console at a stiff angle. "She's not letting us land. Or something else is preventing us from doing so. Theta's out there…" He pointed to the TARDIS doors. "And we can't get to him because of what's on here…" Another finger jab, this one at the monitor. He frowned. "Wait a second."

Suddenly the console room lurched to the right, then slammed into something hard, before coming to an abrupt halt.

"You alright?" The Doctor called out from his position on the floor on the other side of the console.

"Yeah." _No thanks to you_, Clara silently added as she crawled up from the steel floor. "Nothing like a good TARDIS thrashing to really get you psyched for an adventure."

He raised his eyebrow at her. "There's no need for that kind of cheek." He frowned. "And anyway, it's not like She actually meant to hurt you. She found a hole in the time vortex and managed to sneak us through." Another glance at the monitor. "Course, she won't hold it for long. Maybe a few minutes."

"Great," Clara said, using her hands to gingerly comb through the tangles in her hair. "A few minutes to find Theta, and no idea where to start. Do we at least have a clue of where we are?"

"She's not giving us a visual, so no. Not yet." Clara was surprised to see the Doctor eye the TARDIS door warily, as if they might explode at any moment.

She followed his gaze, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the situation. No flashing lights, no cloister bell, nothing. "What?" Clara asked him. "You going to go see where we are, or…?"

His head briefly flicked towards her, but his eyes never left the doors. "Of course I am, just…" His throat bobbed as he swallowed. "There could be anything out there."

"I thought that was the point of all this." Clara chuckled. "That's where the fun is and all."

She wasn't sure what was going on inside that big Time Lord brain of his, but somehow, he managed to make his way to the doors. Clara followed closely on his heels.

They stepped just outside the TARDIS doors, and found themselves on a deserted street corner. It was so dark they could hardly see each other, despite their proximity, and it was completely silent. The only hint of life was a lone street lamp illuminating a blue wooden gate, which read, "I.M. Foreman _Scrap Merchant_ 76 Totters Lane".

Clara couldn't see him, but she could sense the Doctor tense upon reading those words. "Doctor?" She asked him.

The Doctor didn't answer, but visibly flinched when an old-style car came to a stop across the street from the junkyard. A young woman wearing a striped top, probably a teenager, walked into the pool of light. Clara watched, fascinated, as the woman looked around with furtive glances, before slipping into the blue doors with barely a sound. A moment passed, and then she heard two car doors slam as two people exited the parked car. Clara only had time to see it was a grown man and woman before they followed the woman from before.

"Weird," Clara whispered.

She took a step forward, but the Doctor's hand shot out and grabbed her upper arm. "Inside the TARDIS, now," he growled, not bothering to wait for a response before he pushed her into the ship in front of him.

Just before the doors closed, Clara could have sworn she saw a flash of gold disappear into the junkyard.

* * *

The Doctor, old in appearance but in fact the youngest he'll ever be, bit back a shout of surprise. He'd been sifting through the back corner of I.M. Foreman's scrap yard when a golden creature suddenly appeared in front of him. It only took one glance for him to identify it: half eagle, half lion, completely golden, and the size of a small dog. What else could it be but another _gryphes de stellis _rat?

"Oh, no. I'll not be having the likes of you on my ship," he snapped.

The griffin cocked its head and blinked, before breaking out into a fit of laughter. Its gleeful cackle wasn't particularly loud, but its fit had enough force to make the griffin fall off the box it was perched on.

The Doctor huffed in annoyance. "That must be some joke. But I would have you leave. Now. Before I have to throw you out."

The creature sat up and grinned. It opened its mouth, but thanks to the TARDIS translating circuits, words came out instead of bird-like screeches. _You couldn't throw me even if you tried_, it said, an evil glint in its eyes. _You're too old! And somehow, you haven't changed a bit!_

He raised an eyebrow, but inside the Doctor's mind was working hard and fast. Sounded like this creature knew him from his future. Not necessarily a bad thing (certainly a first for him), but he'd rather not have to deal with a paradox at the moment. "Leave, griffin. Go back to wherever you came from. And leave me alone while you're at it."

The griffin stuck its tongue out. _Fine. But you'd best get back to your TARDIS. You don't want to keep your guests waiting, do you?_

"Guests?" But the infuriating creature just chortled again and blinked out of existence. In the back of his mind the Doctor could feel the aftershocks of the time vortex pulling something out of one time and place and into another.

He swept his gaze over the pile of junk once more. Then, satisfied that nothing else was amiss, the Doctor pulled up his coat and walked at a brisk pace back to the TARDIS. Guests, it had said? Not if he could help it. He'd make sure Susan had returned, and then he'd hightail it for the stars before anyone else could interrupt their perfectly calm, normal lifestyle.

* * *

The fourteenth regeneration of that same Doctor put a hand on his forehead. He'd just finished telling Clara the brief summary of what happened at 76 Totters Lane. And, ah, yes, there it was: little Theta's antics suddenly appeared in his vast memory banks. Through some helpful push of the TARDIS, Theta was able to practically insert himself into the Doctor's timeline without causing a paradox. One part of the Doctor was angry; what right did this little rat have to invade his past and create new memories, essentially destroying old ones? But the other part was impressed that the creature was able to do it at all. Must be a _gryphes de stellis_ thing.

"Doctor?" Clara asked, her worry seeping into her tone of voice.

The Doctor opened his eyes and gave her a light grin. "Don't worry your pretty little head over me, Clara. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself.

She eyed him dubiously, but didn't comment on that topic further. "Has Theta moved?"

One check at the TARDIS monitor confirmed it. "Yes, he has." He jumped up and swept his hands over the console board, twisting various dials as he went. Finally, the Doctor positioned his hand on the launch lever. Was it only this morning that this whole "game" began?

"Ready for the next one?"

She nodded, and he sent them back into the time vortex.

* * *

Outside, a grumpy, distrustful, stubborn Time Lord was doing exactly the same thing, his first two human companions on the floor beside him. He didn't notice that the wires for the chameleon circuit had been bitten beyond repair by a very persistent beak.


	4. Second to None

**The next several chapters will be shorter, given the nature of Theta's meet-and-greet moments. This one comes from "The Abominable Snowman", one of the infamous episodes where most of its original footage was lost.**

"So where to next?" Clara piped up from the side of the console. When the Doctor didn't reply, she moved until she was looking at the TARDIS monitor over his shoulder, but the screen's circles and spinning digits were as baffling as ever.

"Earth, Tibet, the Himalayas," the Doctor replied with a hint of venom. He grumbled something under his breath turned abruptly. He paced around the console, hitting various switches as he did so, but his face was as closed off as ever.

Clara grinned and leaned against the side of the console, choosing ignore the Time Lord's grouchy mood. "Sounds fun. You gonna investigate or…"

"No!" He kicked the metal floor half-heartedly. "Bloody creature's gone blundering into my time lines again."

"Oh, come on. Whatever happened to getting your hands dirty?"

The Doctor looked at her like she'd grown another head. "Clara! The TARDIS is parked mere feet away from the entrance to a secret, ancient society. In minutes the other me will be dragged here as bait!"

"Bait?" Clara giggled like a school girl and leaned towards him. "Oh, this I have to hear."

He scoffed. "Later. Right now, we're leaving."

The Doctor moved to the TARDIS controls, but sparks flew out as soon as he touched them. "Oi!" After an incredulous pause, he shot a glare at the time rotor. "He'll be fine. Tell him to go destroy another ship if you like him so much."

Clara raised her eyebrow. It wasn't the first time she'd felt left out of the telepathic conversations between the Doctor and his ship. "What's She saying?"

"The TARDIS likes Theta. Theta stays, so we stay. When Theta goes, we go." He sighed heavily and sat down on a nearby step. "Remind me to throw that space rat in a supernova once we've finished this game."

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied, grinning knowingly. If the gray-haired old man in front of her really did mean what he said about Theta, that griffin would have never survived the first trip. Clara took a moment to enjoy the memory. They'd ended up in Vietnam during the American Vietnam War, rather than 49th-century Vietnam, the "planet of a thousand souls". Theta had been the one to save them from a napalm assault, much to the Doctor's annoyance.

The Doctor continued to stew in silence, and Clara finally found the patience to sit on the floor in front of him. "So," she said. "Tell me about this 'other you'."

He stared at her for a long moment, but he'd already told her about his first incarnation. What harm was there in describing the second? "I regenerated in the TARDIS, after battling the Cybermen in Antarctica—"

"The what?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "How dare you interrupt? Here I am, laying my history out before you…" When he noticed that she was grinning from ear to ear, he huffed and started again. "Anyway, it was in the TARDIS. Ben and Polly were there…"

* * *

"Who are you?!"

Theta looked up quickly and shook his head, scattering the dust and straw that had gathered on his feathers. He was in a cell, made of stone, lying upside down on a very cold floor. How odd. Clearly time jumping was something he needed some practice with. On the beach planet he'd crashed into a palm tree, and he was lucky the first Doctor didn't see the mess he'd inadvertently made in the back of the junkyard.

Right, someone had asked him a question.

Theta grumbled and snarked as he wearily rolled over, shaking every feather on his wings as he did so. After a few moments of general self-reprimanding, the griffin took a good look at the man he realized was sitting in front of him.

The man was wearing an enormous fur coat that covered the rest of his outfit, with only black pant legs and shoes sticking out of the bottom. His expression was one of shock, which was understandable. The griffin must have appeared from nowhere. Theta bit back a smirk at how the man's thick black eyebrows had bypassed his wrinkles and were now hiding somewhere in his black, bowl-shaped hair.

"I said, who are you?" The man asked again.

Theta blinked at him and squinted. This had to be the Doctor. Right?

The man frowned, the change in expression allowing the eyebrows to descend back to their rightful place. "Can you communicate, creature?"

The griffin frowned and screeched in offence. _Of course I can communicate! I'm not some dumb microbe._

There went the eyebrows again, up, up, and away. "Your language! But that's—no, no, it's you again, isn't it? The _gryphes de stellis_ from the junkyard!"

_Yep!_ Theta grinned proudly. _Back again! You're looking a bit different, though. Aren't you, Doctor?_

The Doctor frowned until the corners of his mouth formed a bridge between the left half of his face with the right. "I have to wonder how you know who I am. And how you appear at random occurrences. There's something there, though, the time vortex…are you part of the TARDIS by any chance?"

_No telling! That'd be cheating!_ Theta chortled. He danced back and forth on his paws, letting his talons scatter loose strands of hay. As he calmed, he glanced around at his surroundings. _What a dump! Don't tell me you live here?_

"I'm in a prison, you buffoon!" The Doctor answered, rolling his eyes. "How come you don't know that? Ever hear of, 'Look before you leap'?"

_Ever heard of 'Think before you speak'?_ He laughed at the man's confused expression, taking pure delight in knowing something someone else did not.

Suddenly the griffin froze as he saw what was in the Doctor's hands. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it was a human instrument. But all Theta could focus on was, _STICK!_

The Time Lord winced at the abrupt screech. "I beg your pardon?"

Before he could react Theta had pounced on his chest and vaulted himself to the ceiling, the Doctor's recorder clutched in his beak.

"Hey!" The Doctor shouted, standing up to his full (but not that impressive) height. His demeanor was even less intimidating thanks to the thick fur coat he still wore. "Give it back, you! I say, get down here right now!"

But Theta ignored him completely, literally bouncing off the walls, floor, and ceiling as he gripped his prize. Eventually he figured out that if he held it vertically, it made noise. Soon it became Theta the star griffin flapping around the Doctor's head, tooting and whistling, while the man himself waved his arms and shouted like a mad man.

Finally Theta's wings and lungs tired, and he dropped to the straw floor with a scratchy note dying on his lips. The griffin glanced up at his pursuer, who was also taking a short respite against the far wall. Eyes shining with mirth, he shook his recorder side to side like a dog would to a bone, savoring the Doctor's bugged-out eyes that so resembled Theta's current Doctor.

The Time Lord, still breathing heavily, only huffed in annoyance and walked closer, until he was standing over the small _gryphes de stellis_ at his feet. He raised his eyebrow and leered at Theta, until the griffin sighed and relinquished his toy. The Doctor picked the instrument up and dusted it off, before sitting back down in his earlier spot against the wall.

"Well…" He rubbed the corner of his eye absently. "That accomplished nothing."

Theta grinned, the glint returning to his eyes as he felt the time vortex pull at him once again. _Wasn't supposed to accomplish anything, Clown._ He ignored the Doctor's confused look, and instead cocked his ears. _Sounds like a visitor. Could be anybody. I'll see you someday!_

And with a last grin, Theta jumped up and vanished.

The Doctor stared at the spot where the strange star griffin had disappeared, before shaking his head in exasperation. "Someday"…he wondered when that would be. The little rat had sounded pretty sure of himself. Next time he must get the creature's name.

Absently he raised his recorder and began playing the first stanza to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", the sounds of the approaching solider already reaching his ears.


	5. Third's World

**This moment is from "The Green Death", one of the few episodes of the Third Doctor's era that's available on Netflix.**

Clara picked her nails as the Doctor moved around the TARDIS console in front of her. _Hope we can get Theta this time_, she thought. _This game isn't as exciting as it used to be_.

Finally the Time Lord stopped and read what appeared on the monitor. Clara wasn't surprised when he lightly banged his head against the screen. It seemed the universe was just itching for a laugh at their expense today.

"No good?" She asked.

"Not even close," the Doctor answered without raising his head. "He's in the middle of an open field, no cover for miles. We can't even land."

_Of course that's where he is_. "Do you at least know where he is?"

He glanced at the monitor again. "Lainfairfach, a county in Glamorgan on Earth. Post-industrial era, it looks like." He frowned. "My third self is down there right now."

Clara raised an eyebrow. "What made you want to go to South Wales?"

"It was for Jo, really. I'd wanted to go to the blue planet of Metebelis III, but there was a factory spewing huge amounts of pollution and she is _the_ environmentalist for those sorts of things. No saying no to her." The Doctor breathed out a wheeze as he sat down on the metal steps again. His eyes had taken on that dull, grey quality, an expression Clara knew meant that he was remembering something tragic. More often than not, it was something he now regretted.

Knowing that they wouldn't be going anywhere for a while, Clara sat on his left side, replicating the position they'd been in only minutes prior. "How many selves do you have?"

"Hmm? Oh, regenerations?" The Doctor rubbed his fingers together before answering, "I've regenerated into fourteen different bodies. But I most often refer to this one as my twelfth."

"Why?"

He scrunched up his nose and shook his head. "Bad blood, I say. Nothing you need to hear or dwell over."

He made to stand, but Clara put a hand on the Doctor's knee. "Hey," she said. "Tell me about Jo."

The Doctor gave her an odd look, but he continued sitting. What had Clara done to him? It seemed the more he talked about his past, the easier it was to remember and retell. Old guilt somehow felt lighter, and his words cleared his mind like a refreshing wind. "She was…Jo, I suppose. A bright girl, blond and bubbly and excited." His eyes became distant again as they stared at a spot behind her left shoulder. "I didn't take her to nearly enough places, times, and planets. But it was her time, I suppose, as it always must be."

Clara already felt her eyes starting to droop (a woman could only handle so much "story time" in a day), but she plowed ahead, knowing that if she stopped the Doctor would become more closed off than ever. "What's happening down there? Right now?"

He smiled, but it was sad rather than nostalgic. "A mine shaft full of green slime and giant maggots, a corporate empire run by a machine…and a wedding…"

* * *

This time, Theta was able to emerge from the TARDIS' mini time vortex without colliding with the nearest object. As soon as he felt the wind dance across his feathers he flipped over until his claws were gripping something solid and opened his eyes. He was in…a car, the backseat of one. The tough leather seats made gripping it for longer than a few moments painful, and it had a yellow paint job that offended Theta and his (frankly magnificent) golden plumage. The sky was nearly black, the sun slowly retreating under the horizon. A few feet away was a stone cottage, the only building Theta could see for miles. With his sensitive ears he could hear the sound of music and general human cheer coming from the house. There were a couple sheep milling about the dirt walkway, and a dog shepherding them, but fortunately neither animals paid Theta any mind. He had to resist the urge to eat the lamb, though. It'd been so long since that meal on the TARDIS, and time hopping was tiring on the stomach.

But what interested the griffin most was the man who just emerged from the house without a backwards glance. He adjusted his dark red plaid coat and kept his head lowered as he walked, the last light of the sun making his white hair glow. The man was so lost in his own musings that he climbed into the driver's seat without noticing Theta. There he paused, gave the house one last, longing look, and drove away.

Theta crouched low in his seat and nibbled his tongue in thought. Now what? This must be another one of the Doctor's forms. Something was on his mind, certainly, and Theta was determined to talk it out of him. But when to make himself known? While the car was in motion, potentially giving the poor old man a hearts attack?

The car jumped and jostled its way through a pile of pebbles, and Theta decided to go for it. He didn't have long for this time period, especially if the Doctor continued to drive this car as poorly as he did the TARDIS. _Hello_, he croaked.

The effect was instantaneous. The man gave a shout of surprise and quickly spun the wheel, as if the sound had come from somewhere in front of him. Just as quickly he slammed his foot on the brakes, and the star griffin was launched into the back of his chair.

_Ow_, Theta grumbled, groaning as he climbed back onto the backseat. When he turned again the Doctor was glaring at him. The griffin flinched. This was the first time he'd seen an early incarnation of the Doctor greet him with such a look.

"You again! Confound it all, why do you keep popping up all the time?" He snapped, one hand still on the wheel despite his body being turned around in the chair.

_This is the third time you've seen me!_ Theta growled.

"Yes, well, that's three times too many. Go bother someone else." He looked the griffin up and down. If it was possible, he became more agitated. "And get your claws out of the seat, you nitwit! You'll damage the leather."

Theta rolled his eyes and made a show of releasing the chair, but the material was so tough he'd hardly made a dent in it. _You're very pompous in this form, you know. Like a noble, arrogant and self-centered._

The Doctor's mouth dropped open. "How dare you?" He sputtered.

_How dare _you_! More ear wax than brain, I say. Or is that all your nose?_

"I say, get out of the car this instant! I demand that you leave at once!" When Theta made no move to budge, he added, "Leave me alone!"

Despite the slight darkness, the flash of grief that passed over his eyes was unmistakable. Immediately Theta willed his hackles to lower and flicked his ears down into a non-aggressive position. _What happened back there?_ Theta croaked. _In the cottage?_

The Doctor looked to be on the verge of making another demand, but he finally sagged into his seat and hung his head. "How can you know anything about that?"

The griffin allowed a small smile to creep through. Every form of the Doctor ran from big emotions, decisions, and even memories; every form needed an out in any conversation. _It's not hard to miss, Doctor._

He looked Theta in the eye, hard. Then, "My assistant, Jo, got married."

_That doesn't sound too bad. Sounds pretty good, actually._

"Yes, I suppose it is." He looked away and into the distance, where the sun was sinking.

Theta cocked his head. _There's more, isn't there?_

The Doctor chuckled. "You don't miss a tick, do you?" The griffin chortled in response, and after a while the Time Lord asked, "Are you alone?"

An odd question. In a sense, not at all, thanks to the Doctor, his TARDIS, and the female human, Clara Oswald. But in another, yes, he was the only griffin in that time-and-space ship. He might not be the last of his kind, but there weren't any other members of his species to talk to. And he couldn't say anything about that last part, lest the Doctor learn too early of New Gallifrey. _Yes, and no_, he finally replied._ It's a difficult question to answer._

"Then you and I are quite similar." The Doctor turned back to Theta and smiled sadly. "I have the TARDIS, yes, I'll always have Her. Even when I've been exiled to Earth. But…that's not enough. None of the other Time Lords will follow me. Humans always leave, either by choice or necessity, sometimes even through death. Do you know what I mean, my little _gryphes de stellis_ friend?"

_Oh, am I a friend now?_ The Doctor's smile widened ever so slightly, but Theta sobered his own grin up right away. _I'm sorry, Doctor, but no. I have no idea what you mean. But I suppose, given time, I will._

The Doctor pondered on his words for a moment. "You are from the future, correct?" He abruptly asked. "Do you travel with me?"

Theta flicked his tail in amusement, the glint coming to his eyes without prompting. _I can't tell you that! That'd be cheating. You'll have to find that out on your own._

"Will I, now?" He chuckled heartily. Even Theta could sense the lightness that had been lifted from the man's shoulders. "Will you at least tell me your name?"

_Maybe next time_, Theta answered, clicking his beak together in mirth. He could feel the vortex in the back of his mind, coaxing him away. _I have to go now. Good-bye._

"Oh, yes. Good-bye." The Doctor smiled and waved, but there was that sadness again. He was probably thinking about all the other times he's said those words, and how many more times he'd say them again.

That wouldn't do at all. _It'll get better, Doctor_, Theta quickly added. _You'll find someone else. Could be anyone…human or alien or robot, any age, any profession. You'll see._

The Doctor nodded and raised a hand again in farewell. "Thank you, griffin of the stars. Till next time?"

_Till then!_ And he was gone.

The Doctor stared at the place the griffin had sat for a time, before sighing and starting the car again. As he drove towards the TARDIS, and all the universe beyond, he grieved for his lost companion and wondered at what he would do now…but his musings were not without a little hope.

* * *

A little ding from the TARDIS console interrupted the Doctor as he'd begun his next tale.

"He's left!" Quicker than was normally possible for a gray-haired man he jumped to standing and flicked his eyes over the monitor. "Sarah Jane Smith will have to wait. Theta's on the move!"

Clara stood up, too, albeit a little slower, and frowned. "Doctor," she said, "you're saying that as Theta's living a moment out there…" She gestured vaguely towards the TARDIS doors. "You remember it as if it's happening right now?"

He grudgingly turned away from the monitor to roll his eyes at her. "Way to put it in simple terms, Clara, but yes, that is the general idea. Though technically speaking it _is_ happening right now."

"Yeah, yeah, course." Clara furrowed her brow. "So, Theta crawled into the time vortex through the TARDIS. That means She's his only connection to us. Right?"

"Yes…" He answered, his questioning glance only intensifying.

She snapped her fingers in the air repeatedly, the movement and noise combination helping her think. "Then, tell me, who is deciding where Theta goes? Is it Theta? Or the TARDIS?"

The Doctor blinked and looked upwards in thought. "Well…Theta would be, to a degree. To put it in simple terms you can understand, it's like the TARDIS is laying out an array of time-and-space brochures with my name on them, and Theta gets to point at one and say, 'I want to go there'."

Clara rolled her eyes and ignored the Doctor's blatant and exaggerated rudeness, intent on making the daft alien in front of her understand her point. "In that case," she concluded, "what if we hook up the TARDIS navigation things to that selection process?"

He blinked at her like a startled owl. "Sorry?"

He wasn't getting it! "Theta can, and will, make a selection at any time. If we connect the TARDIS controls to that, in theory we should be able to, in essence, follow his finger to wherever he's pointing. We could know where he's heading before he gets there. I don't know if we'll beat him, but we don't have to. If a paradox is an issue we'll have more time to avoid it." She narrowed her eyebrows as the weight of her epiphany started to hit her. "This is possible, right? Doctor?"

Through her speech the Time Lord had remained silent, his mouth hung open slightly. Then he broke out into a grin.


	6. Four Score (and a thousand years ago)

**This has become a little pet project of mine, so in writing it I asked myself the question, who do I enjoy writing more? That answered, there'll be more Theta-Doctors action in the future. For this next chapter you'll see a moment from "The Robots of Death". (I wanted to try and do two episodes for Four, since he has so many and he's fun to write for, but in the end I decided to hold off and save some good moments for Five in the next chapter.)**

"If this is going to work, we'll need to let Theta drag us around one more time. Then all we have to do is scan the energy signature he leaves behind, connect it to the TARDIS navigation systems, and away we'll go!" The Doctor paused in front of the monitor and twitched his fingers. "In a sense."

Clara had been excited to see the old alien finally finding some fun in this erratic game, but with those three magic words she glared at his back. "Meaning…?"

"Nothing that we can't handle, I'm sure!" He retorted, glancing back at her with a gleam in his eye. Although, Clara sincerely hoped she detected nervousness in his eyes as well, and not something far more dangerous.

As soon as the Doctor was finished with his calibrations, and had sat back on his heels to wait for Theta to make a move, Clara asked, "What has Theta said to you?"

He half turned towards her and frowned in confusion. "Sorry?"

"In those new memories you have, where Theta came in," Clara explained. "Did he say or do things?"

The Time Lord shrugged. "Well, yes, of course he did. He appeared randomly, we would converse, and then he'd disappear again like nothing was wrong." His shoulders shook slightly as he chuckled. "It's a good thing I'm remembering this now. My past selves were so terribly confused."

Clara nodded slowly, unconvinced. "But what did he say? Advice? Spoilers?"

"Mainly insults. But there were those moments where he seemed to know more than he let on. Maybe the TARDIS was helping him there." The TARDIS console went "ding", stopping the Doctor in his thoughts. "Ah! Here we go!"

She rolled her eyes, but dropped it. Truthfully Clara was beginning to look forward to seeing each of the Doctor's incarnations. The female _gryphes de stellis_ from New Gallifrey had only given her a brief glimpse, and some of them looked a bit odd, even for the Doctor's standards. She jumped up and leaned forward to see around the Doctor's shoulders. "And where is he, then?"

"Nowhere we can go, as usual. It would punch a hole in the universe if I tried to materialize my TARDIS inside my counterpart's. But the TARDIS is giving us a visual." The Doctor turned to her, and for some reason, grinned. "Would you like to take a look?"

Clara was instantly suspicious. The Doctor, eager for her to see some element of the past? A visual of a memory that might be hard for him to remember? This she had to see.

All it took was one look at the man standing in the middle of the image, and Clara burst out laughing. This was a Doctor she definitely wished she could've met!

* * *

Brown. That's all Theta could see when he opened his eyes. He was lying on his side, facing what appeared to be a wall of some kind. Before he could move, a female voice behind him said, "Doctor…"

"Hm?" The gruff reply, a male voice this time, came from somewhere in front of him, and very close by.

"Can I stop now?" The female continued.

A pause, and then, "If you want to."

"It will not affect this?" _Affect what?_ Theta silently asked, hoping it wasn't something drastic. He slowly turned his head towards the voice and froze, eyes wide. Yellow! The brightly colored circular object was bouncing up and down, shining in the artificial light. Theta barely glanced at the leather-clad woman who was manipulating it somehow; all he saw was yellow, and that meant gold!

"Affect it?" The male's voice sounded confused. "No, it's a yo-yo. It's a game, I thought you were enjoying it."

"Enjoying it?" The woman faced the source of the other voice with indignation, abandoning the thing that was a "yo-yo". Theta tensed his claws in anticipation as he watched the abandoned golden disk spin on the floor. "You said that I had to keep it going up and down, I thought it was part of the magic!"

"Magic, Leela? Magic?" The male sounded like he was making fun of her.

"I know, I know, there's no such thing as magic…" She started coiling the rope around the disc, but something was tugging it. She looked down, and was suddenly looking straight at Theta.

"Doctor, a creature!" She screamed, dropping the yo-yo and crouching with a knife already in her hand. Theta yelped in surprise and scampered back. Seeing the knife, he snarled and raised his hackles, his claw holding the yellow treasure underneath him protectively.

"A creature? What kind?" The male voice asked in an excited, youthful voice. He raced to the female human's, Leela's, side, and his appearance made Theta chortle in surprise. Checkered jumper? Wild hair? Crazed look in his eyes? It could only be the Doctor.

Recognition crossed the Doctor's face as well. "Ha, you again! Coming to join me on an adventure?"

_You're inviting me this time? How kind_, Theta replied. He flapped his wings and cawed in laughter. Leela tensed at the movement and raised her knife higher. And…did she just growl?

The Doctor smiled and gently lowered the woman's arm. He certainly was happier this regeneration, the small griffin mused – must be an effect of having a companion around. "Now, now, Leela, we can't go brandishing weapons at our guests. That's very rude."

"But it's a stranger! An enemy!"

"Do you know that for certain?" Leela looked back at Theta, and shook her head. The Doctor nodded. "Quite right, too. If I hadn't have stepped in you two would've been at each other's throats, and then where would you be? All he wanted was your yo-yo."

At her suspicious glance, Theta nodded vigorously – that knife did look very sharp. To demonstrate his innocence, he turned his attention to his prize. So shiny…He gave it a sharp bite, but spat into the air with disgust. Artificial human paint! Underneath the color was nothing but worthless metal. He hissed at it and kicked it away in disgust. Humans always have to ruin everything, didn't they?

He glanced up at his audience and saw that Leela was frowning at him. "It doesn't like it?" She looked to the Doctor. "Why not? Does it not know how to use it?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Why not show him how it's done?"

Theta perked up his ears, and watched as Leela picked up the discarded disc and approach him. She was crouched close to the ground – supposedly this was how humans interacted with animals and other small creatures they wished to befriend. A strange position (it was actually more difficult to run away from such a stance, rather than less), but he appreciated the gesture.

Rather rudely, Leela shoved the yellow disc in his face. "This is a yo-yo!" She shouted, enunciating each word as if he was a kit learning the basics of language. "I will show you how to use it!"

_I gathered that_, Theta muttered, shaking his beak and backing up a step. _Did you know that I happen to be more intelligent than you?_

"You're being rude, _gryphes_, and it does not become your species," the Doctor warned.

Leela's eyebrows narrowed in confusion, but she did not look at him or pull back her hand. "You can understand him?"

"Yes, unfortunately." Theta stuck his tongue out at the Time Lord, but the alien only smiled. It was almost beautiful, how much gleeful, child-like amusement was in his eyes. It made them twinkle with brilliance. "He's one of the _gryphes de stellis_ kind, aliens that travel the stars. Usually all on their own."

Leela's eyes softened. "That sounds lonely."

Theta looked down at his claws, now uncomfortable under their twin gazes. Sure, it was lonely. But he used to have a family, hadn't he? Loads of other astral griffins could travel with a pack. And it wasn't like he wasn't trying to find a family. It wasn't his fault they turned him away at every opportunity, calling him names and only being nice to him because they had to…

Wow. Where had that thought come from? He shook his head roughly. These time jumps were making him sentimental. And why should they? He was having fun! No sense in moping about love and family and belonging or the general lack thereof.

Theta barked a harsh laugh and flicked his tail playfully. _Sorry, Leela, but I gotta run!_ He gave her the biggest grin he could muster. _Maybe you can teach me next time!_

Before the Doctor could reply, Theta found the inner chord of time and yanked it as hard as he could. In seconds, he was gone.

Leela stared in shock at the space he used to occupy. "He…He's—"

"Gone, yes." The Doctor nodded his head and sighed, the griffin mystery once again put off for another day.

His companion stood up and turned the yo-yo in her hand. She rubbed her fingers absently over the scratch marks the griffin had inflicted on the toy, and the Doctor couldn't ignore the look of disappointment on her beautiful human face. "I'm sorry, Leela," he said. He wished he could offer more comfort than that. "He apologized that he couldn't stay longer."

"I think I upset him," Leela replied. "But what a strange magic that is, to disappear at will." She smiled ever so slightly. "Even if there is no such thing."

"Exactly! To the rational mind nothing is inexplicable, only unexplained." The Doctor went back to the center of the TARDIS and continued doing whatever it was he did with all those controls.

"So…" Leela began. "Explain to me how this…'TARDIS' is larger on the inside than on the out."

"Hm?" Lost in thought, it took a moment for the Doctor to remember what the conversation had been about. "Alright, I'll show you." He turned and walked to the back wall. "It's because the inside and the outside are not in the same dimension…"

* * *

"Got it!" The Doctor shouted, jolting Clara from her nap in the leather chair the TARDIS had conveniently provided. He had the audacity to grin at her. "We got him now!"

She sat up and glared at him from across the console room. "Good. Because one more interruption like that and I'm leaving you to figure this out yourself."


	7. High Five, Low Five

**This scene happens right after the episode "Earthshock", which is a rather heart-wrenching episode, as some of you may recall, and contains mentions of the fourth Doctor's episode, "Genesis of the Daleks".**

In the grand passage of Time, for an instant (or perhaps years, one is never able to tell for certain in such a dimension) there existed three entities all in the same "time-place": the TARDIS's of both the fifth and twelfth Doctor, and Theta himself. The griffin, for a fleeting instant, consciously perceived the brief telepathic and temporal exchange between the two ships before he was suddenly hurled into full consciousness on the floor of a TARDIS, though it was impossible to tell which one.

Theta was immediately aware of a change in the very air he breathed. It wasn't just the lights or the different textured walls, but something else, something in the room…

He turned himself over as softly as he could, and froze. He was still in a TARDIS…but with a very different man.

And this man wasn't happy to see him.

* * *

"That, that…space cowboy!" The Doctor shouted in frustration. He thumped the side of the monitor and was rewarded with a small shock to his hand. "Blast it all, Clara. Believe me I'm as ready as you are to be rid of this mess of timelines."

How could anyone understand this man? "But you just had him," she said. "You showed me, on that dial, thingy, we were following him."

"It's not just that." He reached his hand under the counsel and grunted in pain as he was shocked once again for his efforts. "We had him alright but the TARDIS…" He glared at the council like he was seriously considering kicking it. "Refused to land. More than that, she refused to even enter the time stream properly."

Clara raised her eyebrow in disbelief. "So, Theta's in another universe now?"

"Don't be silly, time streams and universes aren't even in the same level of study. It's like comparing the wind to a river. And besides, the TARDIS would never try punching a hole in the universe without telling me it was possible first."

"Why?"

Clara's question was innocent enough, but the reaction on the Doctor was immediate – if you had been traveling long enough to notice it, at any rate. "Not important!" The Doctor shouted, schooling his shocked features and turning back to the monitor as fast as he could. "The point is, that griffin is in my fifth form's ship, so we can't land or risk creating a hole in space and time the size of Belgium. And I don't think he'll want to go through that again."

"You're not making sense," Clara muttered, but he went on as if he hadn't heard her, as usual.

"–And that means that we have to wait, again. Normally I'd suggest throwing you into the mix—what's one more altered timeline at this point—" _Excuse me?! Don't I get any say in this?_ Clara thought, glaring daggers at his back. "But I'm apparently forbidden to do even that."

He looked up suddenly, a stunned expression on his face. "Ah," he whispered. Clara guessed he and the ship were telepathically communicating, something that rarely happened when she was present. It was eerie to watch someone have a conversation with someone who wasn't there, even if that someone was a machine.

A haunted look crossed the Doctor's face, and just as fast he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Adric," he whispered.

* * *

Theta the griffin had only a few moments to examine his surroundings (a bedroom, it seemed) and the man sitting on a large velvet chair in front of him before the human's face changed from surprised to livid in a matter of heartbeats.

"YOU!" He screamed. The man launched himself out of his chair and charged forward, hands outstretched like claws. Theta screeched in alarm and scampered away, narrowly avoiding a kick from the man's pointy shoe.

_Stop!_ He screeched, but the man emitted a loud, almost-animalistic roar and came at the griffin again. Theta took to the air this time, squawking as he perched in the safety of the chandelier attached to the ceiling of the room. The man was below him, circling around the base of the safe haven with the air of a natural-born predator. He was tall, perhaps tall enough to reach with the help of a chair, but the human never took his eyes off of Theta.

No, the griffin realized, this wasn't a human. The body might be different, but the eyes…they were always the same, whether in surprise, sadness, happiness, or, in this case, anger.

_Doctor—_

"No!" The Doctor shouted before Theta could even begin his sentence. "You are not allowed to speak! You are not welcome here, not in this room or this ship or anywhere near me!"

Theta flexed his claws on the metal. _Clearly_, he snarled.

If it was possible, the Doctor echoed his animalistic growl. "You—you get back into your proper time line this instant. Out! Go! Leave me alone!" At the final line the Time Lord spun on his heel and stalked back to his armchair. He collapsed into the cushion and put his head in his hands, the tension still lining every muscle along his back.

The griffin was so annoyed at this regeneration's rage that he very nearly did just that. But…no, the Doctor would never get this angry over space dust. Something had happened.

After all, the TARDIS of this time period must have let him on board for a reason, right?

Ever cautious, and in no way ready to escape from the safety of his perch, Theta crooned as softly as he could. _Doctor…what's happened?_

The Doctor's head swung up and he glared with the purest, utmost hatred Theta had ever seen in all his life, even when among the wild _gryphes_. "You dare to ask me that? After everything that's happened? You're a time traveler, you've seen it! You've seen everything! And even after watching all that, you…" His breath hitched, and in the dark light of the room the griffin wondered if those were tears pooling in the Time Lord's eyes. "You never came back. Never. Left me alone to suffer in silence when you could have been there to help, or even warn me."

It took a moment for Theta's mouth to work again. Not moments ago he had met the most friendly incarnation yet, and now this version was looking and sounding like Theta's original Doctor every second. _I…I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about._

At the sincerity in his voice, the Doctor showed the first signs of doubt. "How do you mean? You travel in time, like me, always blinking in and out of my time line whenever you damn well please."

_I'm sorry_, Theta admitted, _but I don't know any other moments of history outside of where I've been. And you know which moments those are. I don't have much power over where I go. _His whole tiny body drooped in sorrow – he really wished he could be of better help this time around. _I think the TARDIS has something to do with it but I don't know…_

"The TARDIS…" The Time Lord considered the thought for a moment, before nodding his head in acceptance. "Isn't it always the way of things."

_What do you mean?_

"Never you mind, little _gryphes_," the Doctor replied. He waved his hand at the griffin absently and lowered his head once more. "You better get going. I bet She has lots more moments to show you." A pause, and then, "They'll surely be better than this one."

It was a tempting offer…but a none-too-subtle nudge from the TARDIS (was it from the ship belonging to his Doctor or this one? Did it matter to a being that existed outside of the normal flow of time?) convinced him otherwise. Like it or not the ship had chosen to bring Theta to this moment in time. But this "tragedy", whatever it was, had already passed. What could he do?

The solution dawned on him before he even finished the thought. It wouldn't do wonders for his dignity, but who was around to see anyway?

Theta carefully extracted himself from the chandelier and glided to the Doctor's feet. The alien gave him an odd look, but before he could ask questions, the griffin jumped into his lap and curled around himself like a common house cat.

A few moments of stillness passed. Then the Doctor laid his hands on the griffin's feathers, as gently as if he were caressing a half-shattered sculpture. Theta's chest rumbled, and they were both equally surprised to find that he was purring.

_You're colder than I expected_, Theta mused out loud.

A short huff of laughter. "And you're softer."

_Was that a smile?_

"No," came his gruff reply. So much for that.

The Doctor continued his light stroking in the silence that followed, and despite his best efforts, Theta couldn't help nodding off. After the third time he nearly fell off of his perch, the Doctor murmured, "Jumping through time lines sure takes the wind out of you. It's a wonder you didn't sleep before this, you being as small as you are."

_Guess I'm just full of surprises, then_, Theta mumbled back. He stood up and stretched out his cramped muscles before turning around and sitting in a new position, his claws tucked under him. It only took a glance before his lighthearted tone was back. _Celery, huh?_

The Doctor started at the remark, but to his credit, held his head high. "It's for safety," he replied without flinching.

Theta gave the vegetable a last confused look, before shrugging and focusing back on the alien he was sitting on. _So, if it's alright for me to ask, what happened? Before I dropped in?_

Silence. And then, "Adric." The very name made his breath hitch.

The griffin began purring again, a subtle sign of support as the Doctor began to explain further. "We were on Earth during its very, very early history. Just wandering, nothing specific, but then we got caught up in the trouble going on there. There was a signal, androids, horrible hospitality, Cybermen…and even before this Adric—one of my companions, you see—we were in some silly argument." A huff of disbelieving laughter. "I can't even remember what it was about."

He stopped, and Theta wondered if he should say something considerate or supportive. He had no experience with such matters. Fortunately, after a few deep breaths, the Doctor continued without being prompted. "Then those damn Cybermen had a device that locked the ship on a collision course with Earth. We had nearly gotten away, too. The ship could have been left to cause the explosion that killed the dinosaurs and no one would have been the wiser.

"But Adric, oh, I taught him too well. He was a hero through and through, and proud, and much braver than I could ever be. He was sure he could override the device." A beat, and then, "Now I'll never know if he was right."

Theta didn't know what to say. He felt useless. But for some reason his purring and mere presence was enough to ground the Doctor. The alien began stroking the griffin's feathers and fur with both hands, and they stayed in that position until the Doctor's breathing returned to normal.

"I needed you, Theta," the Doctor suddenly admitted. "You had been a constant in every regeneration so far, I was sure you'd appear. Someday. But after Davros and the Daleks, and you didn't answer when I called for you, I lost hope."

_Who's Davros?_

"The creator of the Daleks. I met him in my last body, and I'd had to make a terrible choice. I see now that you're only allowed to visit each regeneration once, for some reason I can't figure out in the slightest, but on that day I could only think of how treacherous you had been to not appear to me at my hour of need."

_I would have come if I had been able to_, Theta said, though he knew his words offered little comfort. _I'm sorry, Doctor. You above all deserve happiness._

"And why do you say that? I nearly tore you to pieces earlier. How could you possibly feel sorry for me?"

Theta thought for a moment. He imagined his own Doctor, and the times he would fly in to the counsel room and catch the Time Lord looking at his monitor with a sadness that could bring worlds to its knees. It was an ancient sorrow, any creature with an ounce of telepathic or temporal skill could sense that. But as usual, before Theta could ask about it, the old alien had covered it up, Clara had walked in, and it was business as usual.

Despite this sadness, that had been the day the Doctor showed Clara and Theta a golden planet with rings so stable you could jump from asteroid to asteroid. It remained one of Theta's favorite memories.

_I suppose_, the griffin began, _that it's because I've seen you in many difficult situations, and yet you can still find it in your heart to be kind._

This version of the Doctor considered the creature in his lap, and then, from somewhere deep inside him, he found the energy to smile. "You'd put therapists out of business."

Theta chuckled. _I'm sure you've been told that before._

"Not like that," he replied. Then, he chuckled. "You know, I still don't know your name, little _gryphes_."

The griffin chortled and jumped off the Doctor's lap. He shook his joints and wings, then turned to the alien and bowed his head. _Theta, at your service._

A pause, and then, without warning, the Doctor burst into hysterical laughter. After the initial shock, Theta couldn't help joining in. _What's so funny about that?_ He asked between gasps.

The Doctor shook his head and wiped tears from his eyes. "Nothing, dear friend. May I ask who chose that name?"

_Not you._

"Clearly," the alien mumbled under his breath.

They both breathed out heavy sighs and stared at one another, closer than they were before despite the temporal distance. But the TARDIS was right there in the back of the griffin's mind, pushing him to leave. _Good-bye, Doctor_, Theta crowed. _See you in the next regeneration!_

"If there is one," the Time Lord joked. "Thank you…Theta." And the griffin disappeared with a soft pop.

But despite his words, the fifth incarnation of the Doctor knew for certain that there would be.


End file.
